With the oldest offspring in her senior year of high school, the spectre of choosing a college and sending her away from the nest looms large. While I did not attend, I have a number of friends who went to the University of Rhode Island (URI). That, combined with the fact that I am originally from RI, has caused me to maintain an e-scription to the student paper- The Good 5-cent Cigar. Through the years, by reading the paper and watching the events at the school, one can get the sense of which way the pendulum has swung on that campus- back and forth from standard liberal to moonbat leftie. As with most state universities these days, conservative thought and viewpoints need not apply.
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What caught my eye most recently was an article on that university’s Diversity Week 2006, which led me to the URI Multicultural Center website, noting the event’s ten-year anniversary:
Diversity Week is a full week (September 25-29) with over 60 workshops, presentations, music performances and festivities celebrating the values of diversity and multiculturalism. It offers students and the community at large the opportunity to step outside their familiar zones and into other worlds (without leaving Kingston, RI!!!) . It is supported by over 30 University departments and campus organizations. Each individual event is a treasure but taken together as a whole, the week is truly an amazing tapestry. The fact that Diversity Week is now celebrating its 10th anniversary at URI is a testament to resonance and importance on campus.
Sounds like the standard liberal pap one would find on most college campuses. As usual, the devil is in the details…
The "workshops" ("treasures- part of an amazing tapestry") for the most part are what you’d come to expect in our era- running the gamut from things like one showing a video that helps
to depict the way society socially constructs racial prejudice
to another where a
workshop featuring a panel of students will describe their perceptions of the campus climate and describe challenges faced by many GLBTQ students. In addition, the presentation will discuss how advisors, whether GLBTQ or straight, can partner with GLBTQ students to make the campus a more inclusive and affirming environment.
Most would agree that while such things may have been seen as wholly unrelated to a "higher" education some thirty or forty years back, this is the normal fare dished up at most American colleges these days. What college could be complete without paying homage to the workers paradise known as Cuba:
“Cutting-Edge Biotechnology in Old-World Cuba”. Dr. Marshall Feldman, Associate Professor, Community Planning. During the 1980’s, the Cuban government diverted millions of its meager dollars into applied research in the human, animal, and agricultural sciences to promote economic development. Today Cuba is the largest exporter of human biotechnological products in South America and the Caribbean, with over 50 nations, including China, India, Malaysia, and Iran, among its clients and research partners. Yet Cuba faces major obstacles in integrating its industry into world markets: the stifling US-led trade embargo; the domination of world markets by transnational companies that control access to production, marketing, and distribution; the need to comply with intellectual property rights; and the need to attain credibility in industrialized countries. This workshop provides an opportunity to learn about the history and importance of the industry, and to review the national and international circumstances that prohibit free interaction between US and Cuban scientists and consumers.
Tell me again why Cuba has no illegal immigrant problem?(coming, not going) What more proof do we need that Marxism is alive and well, at least in acedemia?
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Thinking about a career in the sciences? Why not think outside the box and consider something other than "Eurocentric" experimentation, which can be so dull, after all. To see if an "alternative" career is for you, why not take the
Multicultural Science Quiz. Dr. Padma Venkatraman, Coordinator, Graduate Diversity Affairs. Since Europeans began to write it in the late 18th century, the history of science has meant the history of Western science, reflecting the hegemony of Western culture. While the importance of Western science to human progress should not be minimized, the scientific achievements and perspectives of women, people of color, non-Westerners, the disabled, and GLBT persons should not be marginalized. In support of the emerging campaign to globalize science, this workshop will increase awareness of contributions to science and science history from diverse and underrepresented groups.
Move over, Madame Curie…
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While our UNH may have its nutty professor teaching 9/11 conspiracy theories, URI throws in the moonbat entry with this workshop, not wishing to be outdone:
Race and Class in the Reconstruction of New Orleans. Dr. John Logan, Professor, Sociology, Brown University. Unique among US cities because it is a confluence of French, Spanish, African, Anglo, and Native American cultures, New Orleans is also central to the nation’s economy. It is the nation’s largest port complex, accounting for 16% of US cargo traffic. It is home to ¼ of the nation’s oil and gas production, and 1/3 of the nation’s seafood processing. After the flooding and destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina displaced thousands of residents, mostly African-American and poor, power elites – local, state, and federal – are exploiting the unprecedented opportunity to reduce the socioeconomic footprint of black poverty (and black political power), insuring that the new New Orleans will be whiter, richer, more Republican, and less populous. This workshop will describe the dramatic impact of Katrina on the city and its populations; and discuss federal, state, and local governmental and corporate policy responses to enhance flood protection, provide emergency bridge loans and homeowners insurance, build affordable housing, and offer incentives for lowincome communities to rebuild in higher-lying areas.
I knew it- Mayor Ray Nagin is really shillin’ for da man! He meant New Orleans was gonna be a WHITE chocolate city! Governor Blanco is the secret puppeteer engineering the Republican revolution soon to unfold…
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And what college workshop could be complete these days without blaming the current state of war on the US and its militarism and empire seeking?
There Is No ‘Clash of Civilizations’: Islam and Christianity. Dr. Nasser Zawia, Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences. Colorfully restating a theory in international relations that advocates the superiority and dominance of Western culture and values over those of the East, Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations?” (Foreign Affairs, Summer, 1993) provided a rationale that has influenced current American foreign policy, resulting in the perception that conflict between a “unified” West and a “militant” Islam is inevitable, absolving Western militarism and notions of empire from responsibility. Utilizing photographs from recent Fulbright-sponsored research in the Middle East, this workshop comments on crosscultural collaborations between Western and Muslim academicians, and Muslim and non-Muslim governments.
It’s those evil neocons again! If only we weren’t so militaristic, those peace-loving Muslims would just hug us to pieces… er… ah… religion of peace… yeah, that’s it!
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Boy, I just can’t wait to pay to send my kids to college where they can get their fill of this stuff…not!
